Clarity

 View Only
  • 1.  CA PPM Tech Tip: Timesheet Populate Actions

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 19, 2014 02:41 PM

    Here is how the CA PPM timesheet "Populate" button works:

     

    A new timesheet will be empty until the user clicks the Populate button.
    It is necessary to click the "Populate" button in order to auto-populate timesheet with project plan information.

     

    Prior to PPM 15.1, when the Populate button is clicked, it reviews what is set in both
    1. Administration > Project Management > Timesheet Options > Default time entry options > Auto-populate
    2. Administration > Project Management > Timesheet Options > Default time entry options > Populate Time Range

     

    The Administration > Project Management > Timesheet Options > Default time entry options > Auto-populate
    is a radio button group that provides 3 options:

     

    Option
    Description
    1."OFF"

    The misconception is that this option completely disables the auto-populate functionality

    or removes the button for the user. The option does not turn off the "auto-populate" feature.

    The 'Populate' button will still appear for new timesheets to allow the end user to 'populate' the new timesheet with task assignments with a date range within the time period that have non-zero ETC --- open task assignments waiting for work to be done.

    In this context, 'OFF' indicates that the 'populate' action will not do the other two types of population to 'copy' task assignments and / or 'actual' units from previous periods , as provided in the following options.

    2."Copy time from previous timesheet"

    This is an additive option which performs what is included above in option 1 (OFF),

    plus it adds the additional items from the previous timesheet period.

    3."Copy time from previous timesheet and include actuals (actuals not copied for incidents)"

    This is an additive option which performs what is included above in option 1 and option 2,
    plus it includes the actuals.

    NOTES:
    a. Timesheet adjustments will automatically be populated.

    b. Users can completely start over to discard unwanted timesheet changes and repopulate the timesheet, they can
    -delete the time entries. This does not apply to adjustment timesheets.
    -click the populate button
    -If an unreasonable amount of time entries appear on the timesheet, it will be up to the resource or project manager
    to have a discussion with the timesheet user, as there maybe an resource allocation issue if the resource is assigned
    to too many tasks or other time.

    c. Users can still manually add time entries.


    Starting in 15.1,
    The radio buttons have been replaced with the following checkboxes:
    -Populate assigned tasks
    -Copy time entries from previous timesheet

     

    Additional Information:
    Refer to Submit a Timesheet - CA PPM - 15.1 - CA Technologies Documentation for details.

     

    Refer to the article for additional information regarding the behind-the-scenes logic that takes place:
    http://www.ca.com/us/support/ca-support-online/product-content/knowledgebase-articles/tec435558.aspx

    Timesheet Population (What determines tasks appearing on a timesheet)?


    The copy function will not just do a simple copy from a previous time period. It also looks at the project plan, hence the ability to perform project management in real-time.

    Current ideas:

    https://communities.ca.com/ideas/107359528
    Direct copy of timesheet entries from previous timesheet
    https://communities.ca.com/ideas/108602122
    Populate Button on Timesheet - Change behavior to Copy Time Entries from previous Timesheet

     

    Customers have full control of the CA PPM Application folder, which contains the business logic.
    In cases where the files have been modified, we do not support these customizations and will ask that these customizations be reverted back to the stock logic.



  • 2.  Re: Tuesday Tip: What does the timesheet "Populate" button do?

     
    Posted Aug 19, 2014 03:22 PM

    Thanks for sharing this tip TuanTran!

     

    To make these easier to find down the road, can you please use "Tuesday tips" (no CA or underscore) and just "tips" as tags for these? Thanks!

     

    I updated this one, btw.



  • 3.  Re: Tuesday Tip: What does the timesheet "Populate" button do?

    Posted Aug 19, 2014 03:35 PM

    Thanks for this useful tip, Tuan

     

    NJ



  • 4.  Re: CA PPM Tech Tip: Timesheet Populate Actions

    Posted Sep 08, 2017 01:44 PM

    This is a huge improvement.  It's much simpler to understand and to use. Also, the system settings now appear to be truly defaults that can be fully reconfigured by the individual user.  We will keep the out of box default for Actuals population "off", but inform users that they may change this setting for themselves.